


A Stubborn Flame

by Angryangryowl



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Dancing, DarkPilot, First Kiss, Fluff, Kissing in the Rain, M/M, Nervous Ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 04:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6268972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angryangryowl/pseuds/Angryangryowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe graduates at the top of his class of academy pilots. Ben Solo, who has watched him grow up bold, handsome and flirting with everyone, watches and wishes he was elsewhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Stubborn Flame

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mob_lake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mob_lake/gifts).



> A gift for the very talented mob_lake, whose fic first introduced me to this ship that I didn't even know I needed. Enjoy :)

Only Poe Dameron could graduate at the top of his class, beloved by instructors and fellow students, without making a single enemy along the way. Had he not been entirely, hopelessly under the same spell, Ben would have hated him. Instead, he stood in the back of the hangar, watching Poe give a speech with a garland of pink and orange flowers around his neck and a lipstick mark on his cheek which Kylo was trying to glare out of existence. He looked utterly ridiculous, and still managed to make it endearing.

Ben knows that he will eventually have to leave Poe, and this planet. He cannot stay at the academy forever, and he must continue his training with a master, likely very far from here. Poe probably thought he was helping, or at least trying to help. Ben had almost managed to convince himself that the way Poe flirted with him was the same way Poe flirted with everyone. He had a way of speaking, of listening, that made you feel like you were the only person in the room worth his time.

He led a round of cheers for the class of new pilots, joining him on the stage, taking time to shake hands but ensuring he moved to the back a little, giving some of the younger pilots a chance to shine. Ben doesn’t get other people like Poe does. His dad says he’s full of angst, and obviously doesn’t understand. His mother says it’s just an awkward phase, he’ll grow into his own skin. Ben feels he has grown quite enough, he’s too thin, too tall and all limbs. And that nose. Ugh. At least his loose tunic and robe cover most of him. The wide sleeves of his outer robe allow him to tuck his hands in as he folds his arms. If he wouldn’t look so obvious, he’d put his hood up too. But he knows it’s important, to his parents and to Poe, to at least appear and smile a little.

He eyes the exit as he sees Poe watching him from the stage. He nods, a little awkwardly. Poe smiles, and Ben’s stomach folds in on itself like a collapsing star, and he curses himself, and Poe. Damn him. It’s been quite long enough, everyone is leaving the stage and the whole room shifts into motion as the band starts to set up for one of the famed hangar parties that these overwrought ceremonies always side into. He can easily blend into the crowd, there’s even a few other padewans in their robes. 

He doesn’t want to dance. He thinks for a while he might congratulate Poe, but he somehow doesn’t want to in front of all these people. He’s not scared, he just doesn’t see the need to be wedged in this mass of too-warm bodies and worry, no, knowing that people are looking at him. He’s not entirely sure he wants to be back in his dormitory yet either, even if everyone is likely to be out.  
And that’s how he ends up outside, his back against the cool and dusty durasteel of the hangar wall, looking up. A handful of stars are already out, some cloud already smudged across the planet’s second moon. It was already humid, the air sat on him far too heavy. A perfect night for a storm.

The band are starting to play, a ripple of cheering starts in the crows at the first few bars. Kylo smiles a little, he remembers this song and his mother singing it around the house, his father catching her around the waist and dancing with her when Ben is watching, making him scowl with embarrassment. Not the kinds of thoughts he needs right now.

It shifts up the tempo a little as more people spill onto the dancefloor. It probably is time to think about going back now, he’s just pulling up his hood when a hand on his arm stops him. 

‘Hey. Glad you came.’

Poe’s smile is heart-stopping, and Ben thinks it’s pretty irresponsible of him to use this without warning him. He’s grown up a couple of steps behind Poe, watching him grow tall and tan and handsome. And he’s cursed his inconvenient crush on him, and hidden it, since he was 13. But as he’s gotten older, Poe catching him at just the wrong moment will short circuit whatever system that feeds the words from his brain to his mouth. 

‘Uh…yeah. I..’

He trails of at the way Poe is looking at him now. It’s somewhere between feeling sorry for him (which he can’t stand) and like he’s actually happy to see him (which he also doesn’t want). 

‘Didn’t think you smoked?’

This catches Ben off guard, sure he’s swiped a couple from the deep space pilots passing through but it’s not something he makes a habit of.

‘Oh, no. Just getting some air, s’hot in there’

‘It’s raining though.’

It is now, the clouds finally burst and the first few hesitant drops turn into a pattering downpour, quieter on the dusty ground.

‘We should get inside, maybe I can buy you a drink?’

This offer has Ben even more confused, he closes his eyes for a second to get his thoughts in order, trying not to fuck up what may be a last opportunity to actually talk to Poe. He knows he’s scrunching his whole face up and looks ridiculous, willing his brain to put one word in front of the other, and Poe’s hand on his arm is certainly not helping.

‘Listen, Poe. Maybe I can dance?’

He laughs breathily, and maybe he’s a little close, Ben isn’t sure ‘Sorry?’

‘Maybe we can dance. You could dance. With me.’

‘In there?’

‘Out here.’

Poe shrugs. ‘Sure, why not?’

Kylo feels himself almost melting with relief before his mind suggests that perhaps Poe is just humouring him. He knows he shouldn’t be using his powers right now, Luke tells him all the time how it destroys a relationship, ruins friendship. But he can’t resist just teasing at the edge of Poe’s mind. And hope is there, a flickering but stubborn flame, and a little sadness too, they’re twisted together and this confuses him even further. 

He’s still confused when Poe laces an arm around his waist. He’s so sure of what Ben wants, and what he needs. And his first instinct is to give it to him, gladly and gratefully, and not tell him to deny himself or to wait. He makes Ben loosely draping his arms around his neck feel like a sweet and greedy indulgence.

And they sway, on the edge of the patch of light spilling from the open hangar door, their hair curling in the falling rain. Ben’s lips brush tentatively across Poe’s cheekbone first, his long fingers brushing the hair from his forehead like he’s afraid he’ll crumble under his hands. 

Poe’s eyes flick to him, but he’s smiling that glorious, warm half-smile that makes Ben feel like the worst person in the world for wanting this. That’s right before Poe kisses him, and his hand is settled very comfortably on Ben’s ass. Gentle pecks grow a little faster, more frequent as Ben responds, a soft moan from Poe awakens something warm and spreading in his belly. It’s all slow and lazy, and Poe could drive him mad sucking on his lower lip like that before he moves to his neck, Ben’s fingers tangling in his curls and still tightening a little in surprise at how much he likes this.

Poe is murmuring into the crook of his shoulder, pulling back just enough to see his face again. He runs a rough thumb over Ben’s full bottom lip, and he has to fight closing his eyes, and the goosebumps rushing down his arms. ‘You’re gorgeous, Ben. Beautiful.’ He says it with such sincerity, and Ben nearly lets himself believe it. Just for a few moments at least.


End file.
